It's been an interesting six weeks in Carroll ISD.
In the latest of a series of staff and personnel moves, fifteen-time state champion coach Kevin Murphy has been reinstated as the boys head swim coach after it was announced in May that he had been reassigned within the district.
In a 2017 interview, Murphy stated he'd like to coach another ten years. It looks like he will get his wish.
Of note, Murphy will no longer be the blanket head swim coach, as the role of girls head swim coach will go to Justin Pudwill, the Carroll ISD aquatics supervisor and head water polo coach.
Murphy was reassigned along with head boys basketball coach David Markley a few weeks before the end of the 2024-25 school year. The decision sparked immediate concern from parents and supporters within the district, who couldn't understand why Murphy, a Carroll ISD Hall of Fame coach, and Markley, one of the most successful boys basketball coaches in school history, were not being allowed back in their current roles.
The external protests seemed to have worked: Markley was recently reinstated, and now Murphy will be back at Carroll, as well.
The personnel moves haven't been confined to only athletic coaches. It was announced at the beginning of May that longtime Carroll Senior principal Ryan Wilson and Carroll High School principal Christina Benhoff were not offered contract renewals following the expiration of their terms at the end of the 2025-26 school year. The district acknowledged that both Wilson and Benhoff were still under contract in CISD for 2025-26, but beyond that, renewals were never offered.
Both principals were then offered and quickly accepted principal jobs in neighboring districts, with Wilson taking the principal job at Boswell High School in Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, and Benhoff traveling down the road to Keller ISD to be principal at Timber Creek High School.